[Gruppe B] 2. Spieltag

Achtung Germany - Austria are alive and kicking

Josef Hickersberger's side showed they could cause their neighbours problems in the Group B showdown next week
Jamie JacksonJune 12, 2008 10:24 PM

Roger Guerreiro - sound Polish? Austria - rated below Mozambique and just ahead of Thailand - the worst team at Euro 2008? Germany sent home from Euro 2008 as soon as possible on Monday by that same Austria side, who currently boast a world ranking of 93?

No, no, and a possible yes to those, with the latter issue of Michael Ballack and company being knocked out seeming more credible following Croatia's demolition of them in Klagenfurt and a certain 3-2 defeat to Austria 30 years ago which had the holders West Germany leaving the 1978 Argentina World Cup rather early. Oh, and because of Ivica Vastic's last-gasp penalty which keeps the co-hosts very much alive, and sent the 51,428 souls - minus the Poles, of course - inside the Ernst Happel Stadium into the Vienna night delirious at the end of a game that felt like these European Championships had just been given a much needed 1,000 gigawatt jolt.

Austria did not deserve to lose, but my how Guerreiro - a Brazilian by birth and a Poland international only since May - so nearly left Austrian hearts fractured. Yet after a display teeming with rousing, thrusting football that frightened the life out of Poland - Guerreiro's 29th-minute strike was about their only clear chance - together with Vastic's late intervention, it seems all the more ridiculous that, say, the champions Greece, are ranked a whopping 87 places better than Austria. On Tuesday evening in Salzburg against Sweden Otto Rehhagel's team were awful. The Greeks will no doubt say that was just one bad performance, but the point is that when Josef Hickersberger's side play like they did here - take note Germany - Austria can cause most nations in the tournament a real problem.

Just two minutes after the break Howard Webb turned down what appeared a close penalty shout when the half-time substitute Pawel Golanski grappled with Austria's excellent captain Andreas Ivanschitz. There were other, countless attacks with the best chances before half-time falling to Martin Harnik, who had two clear runs at Artur Boruc. He was a worthy man-of-the-match, and Austria were value for their point.

And, for Leo Beenhakker, it has now been five days which - even in his storied career - he will find hard to forget. The controversial Polish tabloid mock-up of the coach holding the severed heads of Ballack and opposite number Joachim Low ahead of the meeting with Germany in Klagenfurt on Sunday overshadowed the 65-year-old Dutchman's achievement in taking his adopted country to their first European Championships.

By my maths (corrections from the anoraks in an email please) Don Leo has held at least 23 differing managerial positions at 14 different clubs and four nations in a 36-year managerial career - as long as I've been drinking milk. And here, exclusively, is the Been's secret to negotiating so many seasons of boot rooms, training grounds, wins, draws, defeats, press inquisitions, dodgy chairmen and the odd player scandal.

"It's nice you are worried about my health and sleeping hours. Well, I never sleep after the games - if I'm a little tired when I can't make decisions and tactics, this doesn't affect the job I have to do."

1340 nights of broken sleep is a fair amount of lost shut-eye. Beenhakker's face is evidence of this - it is craggy, with his liking for a cigarette also a factor. But, the hair is a boyish snow-white, and, now, he has just masterminded Poland's first ever goal and point at a European Championships by being wily enough to use all resources available. "The intergration was perfect," he says of the 26-year-old Guerreiro, who was born in Sao Paulo. What he said to Mariusz Wasilewski, who gave the penalty away, might have been slightly different.

Austria, like Poland - who play a Croatia team now qualified for the knock-out stages - are still alive in these championships. It'll be some night back here on Monday when the Germans come to town.